The Problem with the Bureau of Land Management's Delegation of Wildlife Management in Wilderness

Congress passed the Wilderness Act of 1964 "to secure forthe American people of present and future generations thebenefits of an enduring resource of wilderness." When itpassed the Act, Congress preserved over 9 million acres offederal lands; and since then, the National WildernessPreservation System has been expanded by more than 100million acres. The Act requires the federal agencies tomanage the wilderness areas to preserve their wildernesscharacter and to leave the lands unimpaired for futuregenerations.Wildlife is an integral part of what makes wildernessworth preserving. Despite the vital role wildlife plays inwilderness management, the Bureau of Land Management(BLM) has delegated the primary authority to managewildlife in wilderness to the states. The BLM's ongoingpolicy of delegating wildlife management to the states iswrong for four reasons.

First, it violates the expressmandates of the Wilderness Act that require the BLM toadminister the wilderness to preserve wilderness character.Second, it abrogates the federal government's primary authority under the Property Clause over wildlife on federallands including wilderness. Third, it is inconsistent withlower-court precedent concluding that federal agencies maynot delegate their authority to outside entities absent anaffirmative showing of congressional intent to allow suchdelegation. Fourth, this delegation to the states leads toundesirable outcomes that Congress sought to avoid byenacting the Wilderness Act. Therefore, this Note arguesthat the BLM should modify its regulations to more activelycontrol wildlife management in wilderness therebyfulfilling its mandates under the Wilderness Act andcomplying with federal precedent.